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Millions hit the road as the 2023 year-end holiday kicks off
Authorities expect the number of travelers and public transportation passengers to continue to increase by the peak of the year-end holiday, which will fall between Friday and Saturday.
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Vehicles line up on Dec. 22, 2023, to board a ferry at the Ketapang Port in Banyuwangi, East Java. Authorities estimate the peak of the year-end holiday travel will fall on Dec. 22 as more travelers hit the road ahead of Christmas. (Antara/Budi Candra Setyo)
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illions of travelers have started crowding roads, airports and train stations across the country several days before Christmas, marking the start of the 2023 year-end holiday season.
Some holidaymakers left Jakarta by car early this week, with state-owned toll road operator Jasa Marga recording some 649,000 vehicles exiting the capital between Monday and Thursday, 21 percent higher than the normal average vehicle volume.
Jasa Marga also reported a 43 percent increase in vehicles traveling to major cities in Central and East Java, such as Semarang and Surakarta in Central Java and Surabaya and Malang in East Java, earlier this week, according to a statement issued on Friday.
Some travelers opted to travel by train. State-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) recorded a peak passenger increase for this holiday season, with 183,000 passengers riding local and long-range intercity trains.
Among popular destinations for passengers from Jakarta were Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Bandung, West Java. Trains serving Bandung-Surabaya and Surabaya-Yogyakarta were also among the routes with high occupancy, according to a KAI statement on Friday.
The railway operator had sold 79 percent of available tickets as of Friday, but KAI expects ticket reservations to continue increasing until Dec. 26, as passengers tend to reserve ticket up to several hours before the scheduled departure, said spokesperson Joni Martinus.
Read also: Govt confirms new COVID-19 subvariant ahead of year-end holidays
